From 1998 to 2004, however, FIDE organised its World Championship as a single event over about a month, with many players playing short knockout matches, rather in the style of a tennis tournament such as Wimbledon.
In 1997, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov proposed a completely new structure: a knockout tournament, consisting of two game matches (slightly longer in the final rounds), with match tie-breakers using rapid chess and blitz chess if necessary.
The advantages of the new format were: Opponents pointed out the disadvantages of the format: In declining to participate, Garry Kasparov wrote, "In Chess, the tradition of playing for the official WORLD TITLE is 111 years old and recognises the age-old tradition of a match between the HOLDER of the title and the CHALLENGER.
Tradition dictates that this challenge is made in a serious manner with a full series of matches.
The format being suggested flies directly in the face of tradition and unfortunately trivialises the World Title.
In addition to the new format, it was proposed by Ilyumzhinov as a way to unify the two rival world titles.
Karpov then won the rapid playoff, becoming the 1998 FIDE World Chess Champion.
Khalifman said after the tournament, "Rating system works perfectly for players who play only in round-robin closed events.
"[9] Perhaps in response, Khalifman was invited to the next Linares chess tournament, and performed creditably (though placing below joint winner Kasparov).
The world championship was eventually reunified in 2006, when classical champion Vladimir Kramnik (who had defeated Garry Kasparov in 2000) defeated the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005, Veselin Topalov.